Plenty of forum members here often speak kindly of these "moderate" Muslims, but I have yet to hear or see one. Perhaps they can shed some light on this?

An explicit suggestion they don't exist:

Comment 9 by Pilot22A

It's hard to be a moderate Muslim (what an oxymoron, or maybe just moron)

It's a concept-- a meme, if you like-- that comes up time and again, even though it tends to be alluded to because it's obviously highly unlikely.

true moderates, those that are capable and willing to see beyond the strict teachings of their faith, who allow for others to hold different views without automatically assuming they must be mistaken, if not outright evil... I think that it's these moderates who are misinterpreting, who are "abusing" islam.

They refuse to surrender ... They refuse to submit

I think this is wrong. If God is part of or exists solely in the human mind, how can submission to God necessarily be part of submission to authority? There are two approaches, the former usual quietism and the new actively anti-non Muslim thinking made famous by the 9/11 attack and popular by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the recent increased belligerence of Israel. There are likely other political factors. To pretend these haven't contributed to the dysfunction of contemporary Islam and say that it's an inherent and distinct property of the religion, which in reality is no better or worse than Christianity (Lord's Resistance Army) or Buddhism (Kamikaze) insofar as it affords arbitrary interpretation within the confines of popular sentiment.

It's amazing how many people get fished in by the idea that there is one definitive interpretation, that the true meaning of the texts of a religion are 1) available 2) in use 3) the "natural" tendency of all instances of the religion. It's magical thinking based on the notion of the Platonic ideal.

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